Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Stobaeus, Volume II
Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.
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Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.2
Ancient Greek
p. 100Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Φαίδρου · συνέχεια
Τοῦτον δὴ πρῶτον ἀριθμόν τε καὶ λογισμὸν εὑρεῖν, καὶ γεωμετρίαν καὶ ἀστρονομίαν, ἔτι δὲ πεττείας τε καὶ κυβείας, καὶ δὴ καὶ γράμματα. Βασιλέως δ’ αὖ τότε ὄντος Αἰγύπτου ὅλης Θαμοῦ περὶ τὴν μεγάλην πόλιν τοῦ ἄνω τόπου, ἣν οἱ Ἕλληνες Αἰγυπτίας Θήβας καλοῦσι, καὶ τὸν θεὸν Ἄμμωνα, παρὰ τοῦτον ἐλθὼν ὁ Θεὺθ τὰς τέχνας ἐπέδειξε, καὶ ἔφη δεῖν διαδοθῆναι τοῖς ἄλλοις Αἰγυπτίοις. Ὁ δὲ ἤρετο ἣν δὴ ἑκάστη ἔχει ὠφέλειαν. Διεξιόντος δέ, ὅτι καλῶς ἢ μὴ καλῶς δοκοίη λέγειν, τὸ μὲν ἔψεγε, τὸ δ’ ἐπῄνει. Πολλὰ μὲν δὴ περὶ ἑκάστης τῆς τέχνης ἐπ’ ἀμφότερα Θαμοῦν τῷ Θεὺθ λέγεται ἀποφήνασθαι, ἃ λόγος πολὺς μὲν ἂν εἴη διελθεῖν· ἐπειδὴ δ’ ἐπὶ τοῖς γράμμασιν ἦν, Τοῦτο δέ, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸ μάθημα, ἔφη ὁ Θεὺθ, σοφωτέρους Αἰγυπτίους καὶ μνημονικωτέρους παρέξει, μνήμης τε γὰρ καὶ σοφίας φάρμακον εὑρέθη.
Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 4
p. 101The same author from the Phaedrus · 2
“He was the first to discover number and calculation, geometry and astronomy, board games and dice, and also writing. At that time Thamus was king of all Egypt, living near the great city of the upper region which the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes; they call its god Ammon. Theuth came to him, displayed his arts, and said that they ought to be distributed to the other Egyptians. The king asked what benefit each possessed. As Theuth explained, the king criticized some things and praised others, according to whether he thought the account good or bad. Thamus is said to have made many comments to Theuth for and against each art, which would take a long discourse to recount. When they came to writing, Theuth said: ‘This subject of learning, King, will make the Egyptians wiser and better at remembering; for a remedy for memory and wisdom has been discovered.’”120
Socrates
Reading Stobaeus, Volume II · Book II Chapter 4 · II.4.18.2
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Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
The complete surviving text of Stobaeus’s second book, through II.46.22, in Ancient Greek and English, with an introduction and 1,541 explanatory notes. All forty-six chapter headings remain, including the notices for chapters whose texts are missing.
Historical Text and Translation
Greek: Curt Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo priores, volumen II (Berlin: Weidmann, 1884), printed p. 1 and pp. 3–264. The supplied edition preserves consequential editorial signs, reconstructed joins, qualified attributions, and missing-text notices. English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes: Diotimos Editions, 2026.
About Diotimos Editions
This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.
Rights
Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 edition are in the public domain. The supplied English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are published with the site owner’s authorization.